Skip to Main Content

Innis Lecture

INNIS LECTURE

The Innis Lecture was established in 1974 in honour of the great Canadian economist, Harold Adams Innis.
 
Innis was born in 1894 on a farm in Oxford County, Ontario and died 1952 in Toronto. He was educated at McMaster University; served in the artillery during World War I and was wounded in action; then returned to undertake a master's in political economy at the University of Chicago. He joined the faculty of the University of Toronto and, as an economic historian, published a succession of substantial works on major economic sectors in Canada. He is notable for his work on railroads, on the fur trade, and for his "staple" theory of Canadian economic development.
 
The Innis lecturer is chosen "in recognition of his/her contribution to economics in the broad sense in which Innis construed the subject". The first Innis Lecture was given by V. W. Bladen, and is published in the November 1975 issue of the Canadian Journal of Economics.

PAST INNIS LECTURES

2023

Martin Eichenbaum (Northwestern University): "Shining Light on Macro Policy without Fire"
 

2022 Siwan Anderson (University of British Columbia): "Unbundling Female Autonomy"
 
2021 Lance Lochner (Western University): "Student Loan Repayment in Canada"
 

2019

Nathan Nunn (Harvard University): "Rethinking Economic Development". Canadian Journal of Economics November 2019.  

2018

Adlai Newson and Francesco Trebbi (University of British Columbia): "Authoritarian elites". Canadian Journal of Economics November 2018, pages 1088-1117.

2017

Nancy Olewiler (Simon Fraser University): "Canadas dependence on natural capital wealth: Was Innis wrong?". Canadian Journal of Economics November 2017, pages 927-964.

2016

Kristian Behrens (L'Université du Québec à Montréal): "Agglomeration and clusters: Tools and insights from coagglomeration patterns". Canadian Journal of Economics November 2016, pages 1293-1339.

2015

David A. Green (University of British Columbia): "Chasing after good jobs. Do they exist and does it matter if they do?". Canadian Journal of Economics November 2015, pages 1215-1265.

2014

Maggie E. C. Jones, Morten Ørregaard Nielsen and Micha Ksawery Popiel (Queen's University): "A fractionally cointegrated VAR analysis of economic voting and political support". Canadian Journal of Economics November 2014, pages 1078-1130.

2013

Keith Head (University of British Columbia) and Thierry Mayer (Sciences Po): "What separates us? Sources of resistance to globalization". Canadian Journal of Economics November 2013, pages 1196-1231.

2012

Christian Gouriéroux (University of Toronto): "Bilateral Exposures and Systemic Solvency Risk". Canadian Journal of Economics November 2012, pages 1273-1309.

2011

Michael Baker (University of Toronto): "Universal early childhood interventions: what is the evidence base?". Canadian Journal of Economics November 2011, pages 1069-1105. 

2010

Russell Davidson (McGill University): "Inference on income distributions". Canadian Journal of Economics November 2010, pages 1122-1148. 

2009

M. Scott Taylor (University of Calgary): "Environmental crises: past, present, and future". Canadian Journal of Economics November 2009, pages 1240-1275. 

2008

Daniel Trefler (University of Toronto): "Canadian policies for broad-based prosperity". Canadian Journal of Economics November 2008, pages 1156-1184. 

2007

Michael Peters (University of British Columbia): "Hedonic equilibrium". Canadian Journal of Economics November 2007, pages 1060-1077. 

2006

Jean-Yves Duclos (Université Laval): "Equity and equality". Canadian Journal of Economics November 2006, pages 1073-1104. 

2005

Paul Beaudry (University of British Columbia): "Explorations in Medium-Run Macroeconomics". Canadian Journal of Economics November 2005, pages 1136-1159. 

2004

Jennifer Hunt (McGill University): "Are Migrants More Skilled Than Non-Migrants? Repeat, Return and Same-Employer Migrants". Canadian Journal of Economics 37(4), November 2004, pages 830-849. 

2003

C. Knick Harley (University of Western Ontario): "Growth Theory and Industrial Revolutions in Britain and America". Canadian Journal of Economics 36(4), November 2003, pages 809-831. 

2002

Thomas Lemieux (University of British Columbia): "The Economics and Econometrics of Earnings Inequality". Canadian Journal of Economics 35(4), November 2002, pages 646-688. 

2001

Robert C. Allen (University of British Columbia): "The Rise and Decline of the Soviet Economy". Canadian Journal of Economics 34(4), November 2001, pages 859-881. 

2000

Michel Poitevin (Université de Montréal): "Can the theory of incentives explain decentralization?". Canadian Journal of Economics 33(4), November 2000, pages 879-906. 

1999

Shelley Phipps (Dalhousie University): "Economics and the well-being of Canadian children". Canadian Journal of Economics 32(5), November 1999, pp. 1135-1163. 

1998

Peter Kuhn (McMaster University): "Unions and the Economy: What We Know; What We Should Know". Canadian Journal of Economics 31(5), November 1998, pp. 1033-1056. 

1997

Michael B. Devereux (University of British Columbia): "Real exchange rates and macroeconomics: Evidence and theory". Canadian Journal of Economics 30(4)A, November 1997, pp. 773-808.

1996

W. Bentley Macleod (Boston College and CRDE, University of Montreal): "Decision, contract, and emotion: Some economics for a complex and confusing world". Canadian Journal of Economics 29 (4), November 1996, pp.788-810.

1995

Leonard M. Dudley (Université de Montréal): "Space, time, number: Harold A. Innis as evolutionary theorist". Canadian Journal of Economics 28(4)A, November 95, pp.754-769.

1994

John G. Cragg (University of British Columbia): "Making good inferences from bad data". Canadian Journal of Economics 27(4), November 1994, pp.776-800.

1993

Angela Redish (University of British Columbia): "Anchors aweigh: The transition from commodity money to fiat money in western economies". Canadian Journal of Economics 26(4), November 1993, pp. 777-795.

1992

James A. Brander (University of British Columbia): "Comparative economic growth: evidence and interpretation". Canadian Journal of Economics 25(4), November 1992, pp. 792-818.

1991

Pierre Fortin (Université du Québec ê Montréal): "The Phillips curve, macroeconomic policy, and the welfare of Canadians". Canadian Journal of Economics 24(4), November 1991, pp. 774-804.

1990

Charles Blackorby (University of British Columbia): "Economic policy in a second-best environment". Canadian Journal of Economics 23(4), November 1990, pp.748-771.

1989

Richard G. Harris (Queen's University): "The new protectionism revisited". Canadian Journal of Economics 22(4), November 1989, pp. 751-778.

1988

Peter Neary (Queen's University): "Tariffs, quotas, and voluntary export restraints with an without internationally mobile capital". Canadian Journal of Economics 21(4), November 1988, pp. 714-735.

1987

W. E. Diewert (University of British Columbia): "On tax reform". Canadian Journal of Economics 21(1), February 1988, pp. 1-40.

1986

Peter Howitt (University of Western Ontario): "The Keynesian recovery". Canadian Journal of Economics 19(4), November 1986, pp. 626-641.

1985

Douglas D. Purvis (Queen's University): "Public sector deficits, international capital movements, and the domestic economy: the medium-term is the message". Canadian Journal of Economics 18(4), November 1985, pp. 723-742.

1984

John Whalley (University of Western Ontario): "Regression or progression: the taxing question of incidence analysis". Canadian Journal of Economics 17(4), November 1984, pp. 654-682.

1983

Anthony Scott (University of British Columbia): "Property rights and property wrongs". Canadian Journal of Economics 16(4), November 1983, pp. 555-573.

1982

Samuel Hollander (University of Toronto): "On the substantive identity of the Ricardian and neo-classical conceptions of economic organization: the French connection British classicism". Canadian Journal of Economics 15(4), November 1982, pp. 586-612.

1981

John F. Helliwell (University of British Columbia): "Canadian energy pricing". Canadian Journal of Economics 14(4), November 1981, pp. 577-595.

1980

Thomas J. Courchene (University of Western Ontario): "Towards a protected society: the politicization of economic life". Canadian Journal of Economics 13(4), November 1980, pp. 556-577.

1979

T.K. Rymes (Carleton University): "Money, efficiency, and knowledge". Canadian Journal of Economics 12(4), November 1979, pp. 575- 589.

1978

Albert Breton (University of Toronto): "Nationalism and Language Policies". Canadian Journal of Economics 11(4), November 1978, pp. 656-668.

1977

D.M. Winch (McMaster University): "Political economy and the economic polity". Canadian Journal of Economics 10(4), November 1977, pp. 547-564.

1976

Harry G. Johnson (University of Chicago): "Keynes's General Theory: Revolution or War of Independence?". Canadian Journal of Economics 9(4), November 1976, pp. 580-594.

1975

V. W. Bladen (University of Toronto): "Command over labour: a study in misinterpretation". Canadian Journal of Economics 8(4), November 1975, pp. 504-519.


 
Â